Last March, the Knesset did something remarkable: it passed the Tkuma Region Law without opposition. Unbelievable--no drama, no political theater. Five billion dollars for economic, infrastructure, and social development in the Western Negev communities devastated by October 7. In August, further rehabilitation funding of $530 million extended to Ofakim, Netivot, and areas beyond the initial 7-kilometer boundary. Some targets we identified in our Lab Report are advancing—a new Agritech complex in Netivot, a biogas facility in Merhavim.
But everything in the North has moved painfully slow: 200,000 dunams burned, Kiryat Shmona largely a ghost town, and $576 million allocated facing a 14% budget cut. None of this is leveraging private investment. Like many of its residents, the North's economic recovery faces what's euphemistically called "delayed return status."
The Tkuma Law and largely symbolic budget allocations for the North were a milestone, not a finish line. Government budgets alone won't deliver sustainable growth. They must provide catalytic capital that leverages more money, new money. What's required is innovative financing that pulls private and philanthropic capital alongside public resources. We can't depend on unleveraged government spending to meet regional renewal demands for capital.
Our Financial Innovations Lab brought together finance, technology, and policy practitioners to build a practical roadmap: public-private investment structures, structured credit for small businesses, strategic infrastructure targeting energy and water security, and derisking mechanisms to attract investors.
Since the Lab, we've continued working with Tkuma, the Eshkol Regional District, and energy companies—including a proposed fund for community-based energy generation and storage that goes far beyond preventing October 7's power failures toward long-term renewable transformation in outlying regions.
The term "periphery" needs to retire. Israel is too small to leave any region behind.
Follow-up work has been led by our Fellows Einav Cohen on energy resilience at Tkuma (photo below) and Etam Cohen at the Israel Forum for Impact Economy (co-author of their new report on Blended Finance in Israel). Partners we continue to support: Ignite The Spark, Ogen, and ReGrow Israel. We've also responded to requests from the Accountant General on how government guarantees for blended finance could accelerate capital allocation for regional recovery and the bridge to renewal. More to follow.
Full Lab report: https://lnkd.in/dFU9d4Kr
29 Janvier 2026 à 17h12
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